


Return of the Matt

by adampascalfan



Category: Glee
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-20
Updated: 2014-09-20
Packaged: 2018-02-18 01:54:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2330903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adampascalfan/pseuds/adampascalfan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Artie Abrams finds a familiar face during the audition process for his latest student film.  Also I am completely not sorry if Return of the Mack is now stuck in your head.  This was written at the end of season 4 so yeah it's all Jossed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Return of the Matt

“I’ll call you.” Artie waved to the skinny red headed guy who had just finished a particularly bland version of _I’m Not Your Stepping Stone_ on stage. “I’ll call you if I want this movie to suck,” Artie added under his breath. ‘Honestly,’ he thought as he shook his head as he made a note to never consider Nik Christopher for any project ever. ‘First off who spells Nik without a C without being a douchebag, and secondly, you single-handedly butchered _I’m Not Your Stepping Stone_? Don’t give up your day job. The song was a classic. What just happened on Artie’s (temporarily loaned) stage was a crime against humanity. It was worse than the time Mr. Schue decided that he should teach a lesson using only Jay-Z songs. Artie wrote down a note to tell Jay-Z all about that. That was inevitable. Of course Jay-Z was going to score Artie’s future gritty inner-city drama project. There shouldn’t be a statute of limitations on bad taste and bad rapping. Lawsuits should be filed.

This entire mess was Kurt’s fault anyway. He was the one who insisted Artie hold auditions. For some reason Kurt refused to listen to Artie’s flawless and completely logical argument that Blaine totally could play all the male roles in his end-of-semester project for Introductory Screenwriting. All they would have to do is restyle Blaine’s hair for one role (which Artie had the _perfect_ argument to convince Blaine that a classic 1980s Flock of Seagulls style would sell the alienation the character felt) and double shoot everything. And it would take a month instead of the two weeks Blaine had initially signed on for but that was the business. People needed to be flexible. But try explaining that to Kurt. When Artie had tried, Kurt had just stood there and raised that eyebrow. That eyebrow Artie had long-since decided had magical powers. Since moving to New York in August Artie had learned many things: how to negotiate the best route to and from his apartment to school; how to distinguish between the macaroni Sam bought for dinner and for his art; how to recognize when Rachel and Kurt were about to throw down and whether it was a good idea to watch with popcorn or get the hell out of town; hell, he even figured out how to stop Santana from becoming a weepy drunk. But the one thing he hadn’t figured out was how to defeat that damn eyebrow of Kurt’s.

So he was going to hold these auditions, confirm what he already knew and then re-approach with his reworked script so the co-male lead was now the projection of the protagonist’s intense inner pain. It was foolproof.

“Next!” Artie yelled out as he took a few more notes about Nik’s “dance” ability. ( _Finn_ in the first year of New Directions had better moves) “Just give me a second to finish this note.”

“Sure dude. No problem.”

Artie tilted his head to the side. That voice sounded familiar but he couldn’t quite place it. “What’s your name?” he asked quizzically as he started to raise his head.

“Matt….”

“Rutherford.” Artie finished for him when he recognized his old teammate on the stage in front of him. The quiet guy who sat near Mike in the choir room but was quick to jump in with the rest of the less popular members of the club. One of the few football players Artie could remember never shoving him down the steps or locking in the port-a-potties. The guy who chose glee club over football without a second thought. The first one to leave them. “Matt Rutherford?”

He still looked like the same boy who moved away right after the summer of Artie’s freshman year had started. Matt’s goodbye party was the first New Directions party Artie could remember. It lacked alcohol, which made it more awkward than any inappropriate love-song ever performed in Glee, but still, it was the first time Artie had ever felt like they were all real friends, and Matt had to be given props for that. Matt currently had the start of a goatee which made him look older than nineteen but it worked. It really worked. He would totally hot on film.

“Artie? What are you doing here?” Matt ran his hand over his hair. “This is your film?”

“Yeah my end of semester project for Brooklyn Film. What are you doing here?”

“A friend of mine from work told me about the audition. Thought I would check it out. So you’re in New York.”

“Yeah. So’s Rachel, Kurt, Santana. I can’t believe you’re here.” Artie smiled as Matt jumped off stage and made his way back to Artie’s spot at the director’s table. “I thought Mike would have told Rachel and Kurt when they moved last year to look you up.”

Matt shrugged his shoulders. “He’s been busy with Joffery and I didn’t end up here till this year. He might not have read my last message.”

“Word. He is horrible about keeping current. He liked a status message I wrote three weeks ago two hours ago.”

“Sounds about right.” Matt laughed. “So what’s going on with you? I feel like I haven’t talked to you in forever.”

“I know right? Brother we need to catch up. You missed out on so much crazy your head is going to spin. But not here. There’s too much we need to talk about and I need to go tell whoever is out there I’ve already cast the part and they should just go home.”

“You cast it? With who?”

Artie grinned. “You.”

Matt shook his head in confusion. “But I never auditioned.”

“Hey I learned from Mr. Schue. You cast who you like and damn what anyone else says. And besides we can consider every New Directions practice we attended together as your audition if it makes you feel better. I’m doing the same thing for my leads. Well if I can convince my female lead there are ways to get her up to New York that is. I don’t want to be stuck with Rachel. But just in case do not tell Rachel she is second choice. I will cut you out of my Oscar speech.”

Matt held up his hand in protest. “I haven’t forgotten everything about McKinley. I heard about the crack house.”

“Listen once I break the hearts out there, you should come with me. Quinn is in town this weekend so we are all meeting at this diner. You can see well not everyone but most of the O.G. It’ll be fly.”

“Maybe even break out some _Ride Wit Me_?” Matt laughed as he stood up.

Thinking on the last karaoke trip they had last weekend, Artie shrugged his shoulders. “I’m pretty sure if you asked you’d get a pretty wicked three part harmony for any Destiny’s Child song you want. Sam can do a pretty fierce Kelly Rowland.”

“Sam?”

“You’ll meet him. Word of advice. Just smile and nod even his impression sounds nothing like who he says it is. Especially if he breaks out his John Wayne. Just go with it.”

~~~~~~

“Has anyone figured out what Wheels was rambling about in his message?” Santana asked as she slid inside the corner booth she had sent out the seriously barf worthy Wonder Gays to save for them. It was bad enough they pretended Blaine didn’t actually live in the loft with them when even the blind alcoholic hobo that lived in the alley could see that was a lie but really dealing with them and Quinn in the same weekend was too much to ask of any woman.

And if sending them out early meant some quality alone time with Quinn, well then all the better. And if she was currently sitting a little too close to Quinn than strictly necessary, she dared anyone to say anything about it.

“He apparently found the second lead for the film and I for one, hope Artie remembers the importance of screen testing. Blaine and I have our tragically brief but rich history to draw from but chemistry with a total stranger is very hard to create.” Rachel nodded seriously as she removed a scarf from her neck and dropped next to her on the bench.

“Yes your one _very_ gay date with Blaine will be ever so helpful in telling the story of a brother and sister dance team.” Kurt rolled his eyes before smiling over at Blaine. “At least it looks likes you’re saved from the Flock of Seagulls look. We’d have to not see each other while your hair was like that.”

Blaine shuddered a little, although Santana wasn’t sure if it was from the idea of the hairstyle or the thought of Kurt not seeing him because of it. It was probably both. “I’m happy to help Artie out but I’m glad he’s found someone else for the project.”

“You just hope he’s found another guy to crush on.” Santana popped a piece of ice out of her glass and into her mouth.

“Artie does not have a crush on me.” Blaine protested while the rest of the table snickered.

“Dude only Tina’s crush was more obvious.” Sam paused for a second. “Well maybe when you had a crush on me but Artie totally wants to do you.”

“He does not want to do me Sam. He appreciates me as an artist.”

“Which means he wants to do you.” Quinn said matter of factly from her menu. “Blaine before I leave we’re going to have a long talk about the casting couch.”

“I’ll show you the casting couch.” Santana whispered under her breath just loud enough for Quinn to hear it and blush.

“Ok we are all going to pretend we didn’t hear that and that we don’t know exactly what you two do when you are both single and in the same town.” Kurt announced.

“And besides here comes Artie and he can tell you himself. See he brought someone with him.”

“Oh my God.” Kurt’s eyes widened. “Oh my God.”

Confused Rachel, Quinn and Santana turned around in the booth to see what had caused Kurt to become even paler than usual. Rachel let out a gasp and Quinn genuinely laughed as they recognized the tall young man standing behind a grinning Artie. The dorky polo shirts he had favored at McKinley were gone in favor of a leather jacket that made him look a lot tougher than he probably was and Santana approved of the facial hair he had going on . But there was no mistaking that bashful smile that she hated to admit she missed.

Ignoring the looks of confusion on Sam and Blaine’s faces Santana stood up and with as much attitude as she could manage, after all she was Santana Lopez and she had a reputation to protect, she made her way to the doorway and pulled the newcomer into a fierce hug. “Matt Rutherford if you make me cry I’m going to kick your ass from here to wherever it was that you moved to.”

“Good to see you too Santana.” Matt laughed in her ear.

“Matt! If Artie cast you then I am relieved to know that both issues of chemistry and dance talent are answered. I trust you’ve been working on your singing voice since we saw you last since we never did determine if you can keep up with me vocally.” Rachel trilled as Santana let Matt go before she stopped for breath. “I’m going to hug you now.”

“Rachel you are exactly the same.”

“Only you could make that sound like a compliment.” Quinn smiled as she reached out to hug him. “Hello Matt.”

“Quinn. Lovely as ever. Artie told me you go to Yale. That’s huge.”

“Don’t get her started or we’ll hear all about Jodie Foster for the ninth time tonight.” Kurt rolled his eyes. “Hi Matt.”

“Kurt! Come on dude. Don’t leave me hanging. I know you remember it.” Matt held out his hand for the bro-five he had attempted to teach Kurt on the bus ride from Sectionals. With a reluctant sigh (but with a smile) Kurt held out his hand and they engaged in the needlessly complicated fist bump, finger wiggle, palm slap into a handshake move they had come up with in the high of winning their first competition as a team.

“Come on. Let’s go to the table and put Blaine and Sam out of their misery.” Artie motioned for the group to move back towards the booth. Santana moved Matt’s arm to around her shoulder and Matt grinned even wider when they came up to the booth. “Blaine! What are you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same thing. In fact I could also ask how you seem to know all my friends and my boyfriend.”

“Your boyfriend.” Matt looked between Kurt and Sam. “Him or him? Which one is your boyfriend?”

“Me.” Kurt answered while Sam mouthed _you want to do me_ at Blaine. “And how do you know Blaine?”

“We work together. Blaine told me about the audition.” Matt explained as the girls pushed him into the booth.

“Blaine knows my taste well.” Artie smiled. “It’s why we work well together.” Turning to Blaine and Sam, he grabbed one of the menus out of Blaine’s hands. “Matt was in glee with us its first year. He transferred the summer you moved to Lima Sam.”

“OH! You’re the Matt that always danced with Mike. I heard about you.” Sam smiled and offered out his hand. “Sam Evans. Nice to meet you.”

“Same.” Matt smiled as the two boys shook hands before turning to Blaine. “And you date Kurt so that party you invited me to last week at your boyfriend’s loft….”

“Apparently would have started this reunion sooner.” Blaine smiled back with a shake of his head.

“You skipped a party that I was throwing Rutherford.” Santana smacked him in the chest. “I should kick you out of this booth just for that.”

“Hey I had to work. NYU isn’t cheap.”

“NYU? Tisch? That is almost as prestigious as NYADA Matt.” Rachel nodded sagely. “If one cannot go to NYADA Tisch is an acceptable substitute.”

“Is that on the recruitment brochures?” Artie wondered.

“If not Rachel will make a call tomorrow.” Quinn rolled her eyes as Rachel attempted to act contrite.

“I go to NYU but not Tisch. I go to Poly for engineering. I only did the audition because someone at work wouldn’t shut up about it.”

“You lost the bet fair and square.” Blaine held up his hands in protest. “Not my fault.”

“You cheated.”

“How did I cheat?”

“I haven’t figured that out yet but I will.” Matt promised.

“Wait you auditioned because of a bet?” Artie was insulted. His work was a masterpiece. His cast would see it the same way or just not be in the picture. Or the Oscar speech.

“Blaine couldn’t stop talking about this thing he was doing for his friend’s film and this dance that he had to do to _Beat It_.”

“And when I said I found the end part tricky but I will totally get it Artie, Matt said he could do it no problem. I bet that he couldn’t and when he fell on his ass….”

“I was tripped. You somehow tripped me.”

“From across the coffee shop. Of course I did. When he tripped and fell on his ass he had to audition.”

“I, for one, am very glad that you tripped.” Quinn smiled softly. “We’ve missed you.”

“I missed you guys too. I liked the school I went to and I made friends there and all but it wasn’t the same as New Directions you know?” Matt shrugged his shoulders. “I joined the show choir there but it was just….."

“Calmer? Less prone to storm outs? Less lessons of the week and more preparing for competitions?” Kurt offered. “Oh I know! Talents being recognized and singled out instead of ignored for favorites?”

“Maybe a little of all of that.” Matt laughed. “But it wasn’t the same. Trial by fire and all that. I guess once you’ve been slushied with someone you are bonded for life.”

“Oh great. That means we’re all bonded with Mr. Schue.” Santana groaned. “I deserve a fate better than vests.” She dropped her finger into her glass and flicked water in Matt’s direction. “To make up for that you are taking me to the lesbian Goth bar in the Village tonight and buying my drinks.”

“Excuse you we have plans tonight.” Quinn protested with the raise of one cool eyebrow.

“Please don’t expand on what those plans are.” Kurt pleaded.

“I don’t want to be sexiled from two places tonight dudes.” Sam added.

“Right now I think our plans should be to catch up with Matt, give Mike hell for not telling us Matt was in town and then get started on planning a full out reunion for the New Directions. Even get the new kids from last year to come.” Artie suggested holding up his glass for a toast.

“Still want Marley to be in your film don’t you?” Sam guessed. Artie grimaced as Rachel gasped, leaning over the table to stare at Artie.

“You said you wrote the role for me.”

Artie lowered a finger in Sam’s direction. “Out of the Oscar speech. And you can no longer do your Simon Cowell in the movie.”

“Dude.”

“I warned you.”

Matt laughed. “I guess things really don’t change much when it comes to New Directions style crazy does it?”

“You have no idea.” Kurt nodded. “And when Santana’s no longer within kicking distance I’ll tell you all about those plans she has with Quinn.”


End file.
